1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to manually operated dispensers and more particularly to childproof dispensers.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Manually operated dispensers of aerosol and spray pump types are widely used to dispense a variety of products such as cleaning agents, insecticides, paint, beauty products, medicine, etc. These products are potentially hazardous to children who operate the container.
Many efforts have been made to make these dispensers childproof while at the same time accessible to adults. For example, it is known to provide a plunger head and a collar with slots and tabs. The tabs and slots are usually misaligned, which prevents the plunger head from being depressed. The potential user must rotate the plunger head relative to the collar to align the slots and tabs in order to depress the plunger head and dispense the contained substance. Such a manipulation requires coordination not ordinarily possessed by young children. On the other hand, adults usually have sufficient coordination and strength to align the relatively moving elements of the dispenser. However, this dispenser is relatively complicated to manufacture and requires that material be expended to produce the single function tabs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a manually operated childproof dispenser which effectively uses production materials.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a childproof dispenser which is easily manipulated by adults.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a childproof dispenser which is simply manufactured
Other objects and advantages of the present invention are apparent in the specification and drawings which follow.